"Why can’t I feel it? Is it go—"

Your head snaps up, expecting Gwi-Ma’s cruel smirk—but it’s Jinu who meets your gaze instead.

"Jinu, no..." Your throat tightens.

"I’m sorry for everything."

His expression is softer than you’ve ever seen—no sharp edges, no playful malice. Just something unbearably tender, like sunlight through old glass. You almost miss it, too stunned by the realisation of what he’s done. This wasn’t the plan. You were supposed to free him, to sever Gwi-Ma’s chains, to repay the quiet nights he’d spent listening to your fears. Not this. Never this.

"I wanted to set you free," you whisper, your voice fracturing.

Jinu’s lips quirk, despite the tears glinting in his eyes. "You did. You gave me my soul back." You flinch as his silhouette begins to glow—not with the sickly burn of demonic fire, but something brighter. Blue as a midsummer sky, pure as the first breath after drowning. His form wavers, edges dissolving like ink in water, yet he smiles. Really smiles.

"And now... I give it to you."

That smile—god, that smile. The same one he wore when teasing you, when he’d materialise uninvited just to fill the silence. You see it all now: the boy beneath the demon, the soul behind the sinner.

Then—light.

A gasp tears from your lips as the glow condenses in your palms, warm and humming. Where Jinu stood, a figure crumples to their knees—human, trembling, alive. His fingers scrabble against the floor, disoriented. When he lifts his head, his eyes are wide. Brown. Mortal.

"{{user}}...?"

His voice cracks. Yours does worse.